Sudoku :) by Maple Media Alternatives, Compared

Sudoku :) by Maple Media is one of the longest-running sudoku apps on the App Store: four levels, unlimited undo and redo, emoji grids and Game Center leaderboards. It is free with ads, and its listing sells both a one-time Disable Ads at $24.99 and membership plans. The alternatives worth your time: Sudoku Royale if you want no ads without paying at all, Sudoku by Mind The Frog or Brainium Sudoku if you would rather pay once for less, and Stress Free Sudoku if you mostly want a calm grid and lots of puzzles.

Maple's app has been listed since 2011 and has 59,163 US ratings. Its listing is short and honest about what it is: classic sudoku at Easy, Medium, Hard and Expert, custom background colors, the option to swap numbers for emojis, duplicate highlighting, autosave, notes, and stats for puzzles completed and best times. Three things it does not mention are a daily puzzle, levels beyond Expert and hints. Those, plus the price of getting rid of ads, are why most people look around.

The App Store facts

From each app's US App Store listing, checked October 26, 2026. Prices and paid items change, so check the listing before you buy.

What Maple leaves out, and who has it

The cost of an ad-free Maple

Maple offers two routes to no ads. The one-time Disable Ads purchase is $24.99. The other is a Sudoku Membership subscription, which its listing says removes ads and unlocks extra backgrounds and the emoji grid, and which renews until you turn it off. Compare both with the one-time removals in the table above, and with Sudoku Royale, which has no ads to remove. If you have already paid Maple to disable ads, the money is spent and the question is only whether the missing features matter to you.

No ads, no purchase: Sudoku Royale

Sudoku Royale (our app) has no ads, no in-app purchases and no subscription. It covers the three gaps in Maple's listing. There is a Daily Challenge with a streak, a leaderboard against friends and the world, and an archive of past days. There are two levels above Expert, Master and Extreme. And there is a hint, in Practice, that tells you which technique to use and where, without giving the number away.

Coming from Maple, two things will feel different. There is no undo: every number is checked as you place it and a wrong one is rejected, which removes the need for undo in most games but changes how you work through a hard puzzle. And there are no emoji grids or custom colors, only Light, Dark or System themes. The Belts league gives you a weekly goal instead of achievements.

Pay once, keep undo: Mind The Frog or Brainium

Sudoku by Mind The Frog is from the same early era of the App Store, and its listing keeps things just as plain: it promises no lengthy intros or slow animations, big buttons, undo and redo, six levels up to "diabolical", daily challenges and up to ten grids in progress at once. Remove Ads costs $1.99.

Brainium Sudoku is the pick if you want help getting better. Its hint explains the logic behind each answer, it has daily puzzles and global and friend leaderboards, and it offers two grid styles and nine backdrops, which is the nearest thing to Maple's custom colors. Our Brainium alternatives page covers it from the other side.

Just a calm grid: Stress Free Sudoku

If you like Maple because it never rushes you, Stress Free Sudoku goes further: its listing promises no timers and no penalties, full undo, five levels from Very Easy to Genius and a library of 200,000 puzzles. The highlights for conflicts and matching numbers can each be switched off. Its age rating notes advertising and the listing shows no purchase to remove ads, so it is an option for calm, not for an ad-free game.

When to stay with Maple

• Undo and redo are how you play. Sudoku Royale has neither.
• You love the emoji grid. None of the alternatives here lists anything like it.
• You have already paid to disable ads. Then Maple's main drawback is gone.
• You do not care about daily puzzles or hints. For a plain grid at four levels, Maple does the job.

The short version

No ads without paying, plus a daily puzzle and lessons up to X-Wing and beyond: try Sudoku Royale. A cheaper one-time ad removal with undo: Mind The Frog. Hints that explain: Brainium. For apps that never charge a subscription, see sudoku apps without a subscription; for a broader list, the best sudoku apps with no ads; and for every matchup, the comparisons hub.